Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Michigan

Change Region

comments

Twitter Talk: Is Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander more likely to throw no-hitter or get base hit this season?

AP120614028823.jpg

Why is Justin Verlander unlikely to get a hit this season? Because he will, at most, bat in just one game in the regular season. If he does face the New York Mets in August, he will likely get just three or four at-bats. If he does get three or four at-bats, he will probably be asked to bunt multiple times.
(AP File Photo)

Throwing a no-hitter is a difficult task. No one should expect any pitcher to throw one in any given season. So my initial reaction is that he is more likely to get a hit.

But then I did something I rarely do: I put more than two seconds of thought into the question. And I changed my mind. Here's why:

Justin Verlander did not bat in the first road interleague series of the season, when the Tigers played the Washington Nationals. He is not pitching in the current series against the Pirates.

That leaves the Tigers with two interleague series on the road: against the Mets in August and the Marlins to end the season. Barring something unusual happening, the Tigers will line Verlander up to start Game 1 of a potential playoff series. That means the only way he could potentially pitch against the Marlins is if the Tigers are out of playoff contention at that point. They won't be.

That leaves a three-game series in New York as the only possibility for Verlander. If I had to guess at the rotation in the second half, I would predict that Verlander would pitch against the Mets on Aug. 25 in the finale of the three-game series. But if the schedule is one day different than my guess, Verlander would miss that series entirely.

Thus far, Verlander has thrown a no-hitter in 0.8 percent (two of 243) of his regular-season starts and has gotten a base hit in 0 percent (0 of 24) of his at-bats in the regular season. Still, I'd lean toward him getting a hit over throwing a no-hitter if only I knew he would get three or four chances to not only bat but swing away. But I don't.

He's more likely to throw a no-hitter only because he will make another 21 or 22 starts this season. There's no guarantee he'll bat even once.

@chris_iott any word on if Al Al has been able to find the strike zone in Toledo?

It is an extremely small sample size, but let me use an extremely short word to answer your question: no.

Al Alburquerque has pitched just four innings in three outings for the Mud Hens. He has walked five and has a WHIP of 2.00, which is even higher than the 1.81 WHIP he posted in 15 games for the Tigers before being sent down. Alburquerque has six strikeouts for Toledo, but that number is not as important. Everyone knows he is a threat to strike out every batter he faces. But no one knows whether he can throw strikes consistently.

It's not fair to judge a player based on four innings, but he's not off to a great start. With that said, the bullpen for the Tigers is much, much better with an effective Alburquerque than it is without him. They need him to pitch well.

@chris_iott Here's a legit one. Who gets sent down when AJ comes off DL? Seems to me Garcia should stay.

Many fans want the Tigers to keep Garcia at the expense of Don Kelly, but that's not going to happen. The Tigers will not replace a utility player who hits left-handed and keep Matt Tuiasosopo and Garcia, who both hit right-handed. It's just not going to happen. Garcia will be sent down when Austin Jackson comes off the disabled list.

@chris_iott Do you think McCann could leapfrog Holaday to the show, or is Holaday first in line regardless of McCann's production?

Should the Tigers need or decide to call up a catcher from the minors in the near future, Bryan Holaday would get the nod over James McCann and others for multiple reasons:

-- Leyland spoke highly of Holaday during spring training. He said he liked what he saw out of Holaday and that Holaday appeared to be stronger.

-- Holaday is playing well in Triple-A Toledo. In 37 games, Holaday is hitting .275 with two home runs and 11 RBIs. After a slow start (.231 in April), Holaday is hitting .318 in May and is batting .333 for the season with runners in scoring position.

-- Holaday is on the 40-man roster. Don't underestimate this issue. The Tigers have made one move involving their 40-man roster and ended up losing a player -- left-hander Duane Below to the Miami Marlins -- as a result of it. They don't have many, if any, players on the 40-man roster that they deem expendable, so making a move to add a catcher who would be a temporary call-up is extremely unlikely to happen.

This question is asked of me almost every day. For those who are not on Twitter, I received a phone call from home at the start of a recent rain delay during which I received confirmation that my family had brought a puppy home. That led to several Tigers fans trying to name my new dog to pass time during the delay. At some point in the discussion, it got its own hashtag: #IottDogNames. (Click on the blue words for a list of several of the nominations.)

Of course, almost every single nomination was Tigers themed, from PawPaw Grande and Al Canine to Raburn and Tuiasosopaw.

Louis.

Hate to disappoint y'all, but my 12-year-old daughter took the lead in naming the dog and settled on something that has nothing to do with the Tigers. His name is Louis, pronounced "Louie." I suppose if you want to, you can pretend his name is "Lou" -- he is pretty sweet -- and get your Tigers fix that way.

Have a question? Follow me on Twitter and hit me up there.
I respond to as many as I can there, and I'll answer five of them --
four on baseball and one on something else -- on MLive.com again
sometime soon.